Report to be available at April 30 meeting

Last Friday, the Dolores School District entered into mediation, a step that the school board and the superintendent hope will resolve issues that have plagued the school and bogged down school board meetings for over six months.

Superintendent Scott Cooper reported that the district and the mediator met with a total of eight parents and covered five topics, but that there were more to meet with next week.

Mediation is when a third party is brought in the resolve conflicts between parties and bring on resolutions.

Cooper told the Board of Education Tuesday night that the mediations are producing "success stories."

A full report of the mediation plan was expected to be presented to the board at the April 23 meeting, but because Cooper has a meeting with the BEST board that week, the meeting was changed to April 30, during which the full mediation report should be available, Cooper said.

Trustee Jon Kelly voiced some frustration about extending the meeting out one more week.

"My concern is we are expecting a report back from the mediator and I think we need to have this conversation sooner rather than later," Kelly said.

But Cooper said he had to meet with the BEST board next week to discuss the overages of the project.